By Coz_UK
#35947
Before I started on my Ecto Gogs, I made this PKE variant. Again, apologies if you've seen this before!

As a dry run for putting together a 'real' PKE kit, I decided to play around a little with the PKE.
One purchase of a Lint Brush later, I had the makings of a Cheapo PKE! Comparing to a printout of HProps plan, its a little short (and a lot thinner!), but I'm not looking for complete accuracy. This is just for fun, and to see how far you can go!

NOTE:
I had thought of using a Dreamcast 'Fission' controller or a PS2 fishing rod control, but the prices were kinda high, especially for gutting! Would still like to see what it'd look like PKE'd!

(Apologies for the Shaky-Cam pics - just think of it as Raimi-Vision)

Same type of Lint brush & finished PKE:
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Filled the hanger hole, & removed the pads completely, and cut slots for the wings. The pointy top was added with Balsa wood & Super Glue, then filled & sanded. Brush is almost the same length as the Iona.

Closer look:
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A couple of CD case fronts stacked worked well for the faceplate (HProps plan). Top layer is sheet styrene, with the LED holes cut out.
The screen box is more CD case plastic. The setting button was cut from a piece of wooden dowel, and the sticky-outy bits are balsa wood coated (like most of the balsa used) in Super Glue to give a little more strength.
Because I used clear CD case for the faceplate, I placed coloured foil behind it where the LEDs would be, which is quite visible. The 'Galvanic switches' are small pieces of chrome tape (I didn't bother with the extra ones on the grip).

No working lights, but the wings move! Pull back to open, release (or push forwards) to close:
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Wings from HProps template, slightly altered & bodged! A piece of Balsa wood with more CD case plastic glued to it for extra strength.
This didn't work too good for the 'wing bar' holes - had to cut some thin brass to make it more resilient!
Used silver earstuds in place of lights - the stones pick up the light quite well!

NOTE: If I could've figured it out at the time, wings with teeth (like St Louis Kids) would've been better, and only have needed one 'wing bar' rod.

The reason why no lights - it too darn skinny!
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Back panel is Balsa wood again, one thick layer inside, and a thinner layer outside. Screws go through it for the wing axles and the rubber band post.
The ribs are lengths of plastic cable ties! Edges of the balsa were filled & sanded.

Made it with a removable face plate, in case the rubber band snaps! :D :
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The three posts are for short pieces of model kit sprue glued to the back of the faceplace to reduce movement.
The screen is made from inkjet transparency film for the grid pattern, glued to a layer of flourescent green card.

Closer look at the gubbins:
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The two 'wing bars' are the arms of a pair of wire-frame sunglasses. Button is from s snap-off blade knife, thickened up with (what else) CD case plastic.
The box under the button is built up from pieces of Balsa wood to retain the wing bars. The tension of the rubber band pulls the wing back into the body (most of the time!).

Took a coupla days to work out the workings & iron out the kinks (then put the kinks back in again), but it was only a couple of hours here & there, really.
Filled, sanded & primered quickly & sprayed satin black with a silver ghosting using the old 'spray a cloud of paint in the air & wave the thing thru it' method).

Let me know what you think!
Coz.
#62437
THAT IS WONDERFUL!!! I have been trying to come up with a way to make my RGB PKE scratch build wings go up and down. Would you mind if I used yer Idea? I had thought of doing something with rubber bands but I wasn't sure of how to make it work correctly. Yer a genius.
By Coz_UK
#69408
Indianapolis_Ghostbusters - sorry for not getting beck to you sooner! But yes, feel free to use the idea! I've got no trademark or anything! :) Love to see it working!

If you could make the extending section include the wing mechanism, that'd be really cool. Y'know - push one button forward for the extension, then another button retracts to open the 'wings'.
Maybe add a push-to-break microswitch so the tip lights would flash when opened.

Creativeguy - No, no lights for this really have no room inside for it - I have considered making the body thicker, but I've got a resin shell I'm working on now, so that's using my brainpower to figure the lights & motion!
The wing slots are just a little bigger than the wings (they were a PITA to cut & re-cut!). I used the templates from HProps. Wings are about 5mm thick.

BTW - thanks again, guys! :)
By elsoldao7
#121556
Very creative, I've benn looking for a good PKE idea since those darn shoe polishers are so hard to find! You'll soon be seing mine, jejeje, thanks for sharing the idea.
By Gareee
#129043
I've got what looks like the same lint brush, from a local dollar store, so I'm following in your footsteps.

I'm using foam core, wood putty, and possible a set of battery christmas lights to add some lighting. I'm looking at his wing arm rubber band trick, and trying to decide if I want to try to tackle it as well or not.

Update.. well. I'l attempting it.. the wood unfortunately split where the holes are for the pivot points, but I think I have them superglued alright now.

I'm trying to figure out the layout underneath the slide switch. I'm prety sure I can come up with something, its just brainwork right now.

Here's what I've got so far:

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By Gareee
#169734
I was going to scrap this project, since I ordered proper iona shells from gb dan, but since I won;t get them in time for halloween, I might complete it anyway.

I want to redo the wings with plexiglass, since the original wooden ones splintered and broke where the pivots were.

I'm finishing up two traps first, two trap pedals, and also want a gigmeter for halloween.. not sure if the PKE will get picked up again, but we'll see how things fall into place.

Oh, and the wife wants a mini roof rack for her car....
By AuroraGB
#171448
amazing work! I love it. I went to my dollar store and bought four for my whole team. I'm buffing it up a bit with wood around the head to make it a bit more Iona like. I hope mine can look as good as yours! I'll post pics when I get them a bit closer to finishing them
By Gareee
#238152
I did abandon ours, but did make the roof rack last year. I did finally get my gbdan iona shells in January, but they need some prep work, and I wanted to find some solution to putting lights and some kind of sound in them. Someone here was working on an arduino based pke solution, I think.

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